Means for handling freight.



S. H. LIBBY. MEANS FOB HANDLING FREIGHT.

APPLIUATIOI FILED IA]. 19, 1911.

Patented Apr. 2, 1912.

2 SHEETS-255E111. 1.

o o I?! Witnesses: Inventor: J w/4M S g.

S. H. LIBBY. MEANS FOB. HANDLING FREIGHT.

APPLIULTIB! FILED JAE. 19,1911. 1,022,033. Patented Apr.2, 1912 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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To 2 t" M Witnesses Inventor:

; Z% 5 g l 12 SAM H. LIBBY, OF

EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNO B TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION'OF YORK.

MEANS FOR HANDLING FREIGHT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2', 1912.

Application filed January 19, 1911. Serial No. 603,502

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, SAM H. LIBBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Handling Freight of which the following is a cation. I

This invention relates to'overhead conveyers for freight of various kinds, and its object is to provide means for automatically depositing said freight at any given point along the line of the conveyer track.

The. invention is especially designed for use in large warehouses or freight depots where great quantities of stuff have to be handled and where the saving of hand labor is an important consideration.

In the system hereinafter set forth in detail the freight is loaded by hand on flat boards or platforms adapted tobe picked up by a grapple of novel construction depending from a carrier running on an overhead track. The carrier is propelled along said track by any suitable means, but. preferably by one or more electric motors, and several carriers can be coupled into a train if desired, and handled by a single operator riding on one of the carriers. An electric hoisting motor is arranged on each carrier to lift and lower the grapple and its platform, the mechanism being so constructed that when the platform is lowered it will be automatirally released from the grapple when it strikes upon the floor of the warehouse or other support. By this means the operator can run his train along the track and dis tribute the several platforms with their loads of freight at various stations without any outside as istancc. Men located at each station can transfer the freight. from the platforms to the storcroom. ear or wagon adja- (out to said station, and hook the platform to the first empty grapple that comes along. to be carried back to the loading station or to any other station from which freight is to he moved. Arriving there. the train operator can release it automatically. and either proceed on his way or wait for another loaded platform to be h oked to the grapple.

In the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 l. a side elevation of a carrier, grapple and platform, en ro te. Fig. J shows the platform lowered and released from the grapple. and Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the grapple.

The overhead track is preferably an I beam 1 Whose lower flanges support the truck wheels of the carrier. There are preferably two trucks 2 for each carrier, arranged one in front of the other and secured to the ends of the frame 3 of the carrier. An electric motor 4 is-geared to the driving wheels of each truck, current being conveyed ,to said motors by any suitable means. An

electric motor 5 is mounted in the carrier frame 3 and its armature shaft is geared to a windin shaft 6 on which are secured. two drums 7 rom each of which depends a hoisting-rope 8 preferably provided with a pulley block 9. Hooked to said blocks is a horizontal frame 10 preferably rectangular in shape and having at each end a. transverse shaft 11 on whose projecting ends are secured the levers 12. The upper ends of said levers arecomparatively short, and the two levers on the same side of the frame 10 are connected by twolinks 13 pivoted-together and also to the upper endsof said levers. The lower ends of the lovers are comparatively long, and are provided at their lower ends with an L hook 14, the hooks of eachlconneeted pair of levers facing toward each other. The hooks are adapted to engage -with portions of a flat platform 15, preferably with pins 16 projecting laterally from each side thereof. ()n the under side of the platform are bosses, the larger one 17 being in the middle and the smaller ones 18 near the front and rear edgesof the platform. The hooks are so formed as to keep in engagement with the pins when the platform is being transported preferably by having a short upright lip 19 at or near the. outer end of said hook.

The frame 10, with its shafts 11 and the hooked levers and their connecting links form the grapple for lifting, carrying and depositing the platforms, and the operation is as follows: \Yhen the grapple is disengaged from a platform, the weight of the links 1;, pulls the upper ends of the hooked levers toward each other, swinging the books out to the position shown in Fig. Assume now that a load of freight has been placed on a platform, and that. the train operator has caused the. hoisting motor to slack off the ropes 8 until the grapple has been lowered to .the. position shown in Fig. 2. A freight handler at that station grabs one of the lovers 1? and forces its hook under the pin 16 adjacent thereto. Since all the levers are so connected as to move simultaneously, this action engages all the other books with their respective pins. On receiving a signal, the tram operator starts the hoisting motor and lifts the platform clear of the floor. As soon as the weight of the load comes on the hooks the freight handler can let go of the lever he had used in grappling the platform, because the lips 19 prevent the hooks from becoming disengaged. The train operator now stops the hoisting motor and starts his propelling motors '2, whereby the carriers and their loads are transferred along the track 1 to the desired point, where the train is stopped and the hoisting motor or motors reversed, thereby slacking off the ropes 8 sufficiently to let the boss 17 on each platform which is to be left there come in contact with the floor or other support. A slight further lowering of the grapple enables the heavy links 13 to drop far enough to throw out the hooks from engagement with their pins, thus automatically releasing the platform. The grapple can then be hooked to another platform, empty or loaded, or it 'can be hoisted clear of the floor and carried off to some other station.

It will be seen that my invention very greatly facilitates the rapid distribution of night, since the train operator can drop the loads one after another at the desired stations without waiting for an attendant to disengage the grapples, while the operation of hooking the levers to a platform is almost instantaneous and takes but little time from the other duties of the freight handlers on the floor of the warehouse.

While I .have described the invention as applied to the handling of freight in a' apparatus shown is only illustrative, and that the invention can be carried out by other means.

Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-

1. In a freight handling system, the combination with a traveling carrier, of a hoisting motor thereon, a grapple adapted to be raised and lowered by said motor, a platform with which said grapple can engage, and means for automatically disengaging said grapple by lowering it slightly after said platform has been deposited upon a support. 7

2.'In a freighthandling system, the combination with a traveling carrier, of hoisting mechanism thereon, a frame suspended by the ropes of said hoisting mechanism,

hooked levers pivoted to said frame, and a platform adapted to be engaged by said hooks and released therefrom when said hooks are lowered slightly after said platform has been deposited upon a sup ort.

3. In a freight handling system, t e combination with a traveling carrier, of hoisting mechanism thereon, a frame suspended by the ropes of said mechanism, hooked levers pivoted to said frame, links pivoted to said levers and to each other, and a plat form adapted to be enga ed by said hooks and to be released therefrom by lowering said platforn1.after it has been deposited upon a support.

4. In a freight handling system, the com bination with a traveling carrier, of hoisting mechanism thereon, a frame suspended by the ro es of said mechanism, a transverse shaft at each end of said frame, hooked levers secured to the ends of said shafts, links pivoted to the upper ends of the levers on each side of said frame, said links being pivoted together between said levers, and a platform adapted to be engaged by said hooked levers, and provided with one or more bosses on its under side.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 17 day of January, 1911.

SAM H. LIBBY.

Witnesses:

' Room: H. Bunanwolrrn,

ANNA T. MoMANUs. 

